Hurricanes Baseball Season Ends, Morales Shines in Finale

LifeWallet athlete, Yohandy Morales, would lay it all on the line on the biggest stage of his career for the Miami Hurricanes Baseball team.

It was a do or die moment, the Texas Longhorns knocked the Hurricanes down to the losers bracket of the Coral Gables Regional on Saturday night. Miami had to focus and regroup to keep their hopes alive of a Super Regional appearance intact heading into Sunday’s games.

The Hurricanes would respond in their first game against Louisiana, where Morales would blast two home runs and tally three runs to lift the top-seed Miami over third-seed Louisiana, 8-5, on Sunday afternoon at Mark Light Field.

Junior right-handed pitcher Alejandro Rosario would strike out six batters over six innings, in which he held the Cajuns to three runs.

Then it was the closer’s turn, Andrew Walters. The LifeWallet athlete would punch out four batters over the final three innings of the game and set the stage for a rematch with the second-seed Texas Longhorns in the evening.

Miami had revenge on their mind heading into their second heavyweight bout with Texas, and they would come out swinging.

Dominic Pitelli would get Miami on the scoreboard in the second inning, with a three-run homer that lifted off to the Ponce Parking Garage.

LifeWallet athlete, Ronaldo Gallo, would sit down the first seven batters he went up against, but the Longhorns would fiercely answer back to Gallo and Miami’s early success.

Texas’ batters would let it rip in the third inning, where they plated nine runs on seven hits, which was highlighted by a Jalin Flores’ grand slam to close out the frame.

The heroics would come in the seventh inning, Miami’s back was against the wall, that’s when Yohandy “Yo-Yo” Morales decided he was not going to go out without a bang.

Morales would blast a three-run homer to bring the game back into striking distance, that would unfortunately be Miami’s last hurrah of the 2023 season. The top-seed Hurricanes would fall to the second-seed Longhorns, 10-6, at Mark Light Field.

Morales’ 20^th home run of the season and 49^th overall of his career pushed the Miami native into fourth all-time in program history. His seventh-inning bomb was also his 237^th career hit, which ranks 10^th all-time as a Hurricane.

His 98 hits and .408 batting average this season would finish sixth and seventh all-time, respectively, in a single season for the University of Miami Baseball team.

After the game concluded, Yohandy Morales, sophomore pitcher Rafe Schlesinger and freshman second baseman Blake Cyr were named to the 2023 NCAA Coral Gables Regional All-Tournament Team.

For LifeWallet athletes, Yohandy Morales and Andrew Walters, it very well may be the last time Hurricane fans see the two donning the orange and green on the diamond in Coral Gables; both of the juniors are projected as highly coveted prospects in the upcoming MLB Draft on July 9th.

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